Bill Brancucci and Kennedy Crossan wanted a platform that could handle multiple approaches to doling out financial advice, so they moved their practice from MetLife to Royal Alliance, a unit of Advisor Group, the principals said in an interview. And they are taking about $1.2 million in production with them.
The move makes Brancucci and Crossan managing partners at the practice, which has more than $100 million in AUM. It caters to high-net-worth individuals and families, plus small institutions and pensions, Brancucci said.
“We do still have a traditional brokerage that seems to still fit the bond business,” Brancucci said. “The advisory on the fee-based side is far and away the fastest growing part.”
The managing partners decided to hitch their business to Royal Alliance’s trading platform and reporting systems, which Crossan said were far superior to what they saw in the landscape as they decided where to move. “It dovetailed nicely in the practice, and in the direction where we wanted to take it,” he said.
Royal Alliance enhanced its advisory platform back in May and included services to support Smash, Dumas and model portfolios. Those have been the types of services that advisors’ clients gravitate toward, said Kevin Beard, senior vice president of recruiting at Royal Alliance. The firm will continue to seek out advisors looking for well-equipped platforms that can manage a range of services, Beard said.
“Our goal in 2012 is to go after those hybrid advisors seeking independence and wanting open-architecture,” Beard said.
